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Weird Desktop Behavior
#28680 04/21/14 06:02 PM
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grelber Offline OP
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Every so often, in Mac OS X Lion (10.7.5, starting with 10.7.2), when the cursor is rapidly dragged to the right side of the screen, everything on the Desktop disappears and the background and dock dim by about 75%. Moving the mouse or clicking once restores everything to the status quo ante.
Anybody know what this is and why it happens?

Re: Weird Desktop Behavior
grelber #28681 04/21/14 07:15 PM
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You're activating the "Show Desktop" feature of Exposé (which has now been rolled into Mission Control) by moving the cursor into a hot corner that has been configured to do that.

You configure hot corners in System Preferences, but the name of the preference pane changes between OS versions. In OS X 10.4 Tiger, it was in "Dashboard & Exposé". In OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, it was in "Exposé & Spaces". In OS X 10.9 Mavericks it is in "Mission Control". Those are the only OS versions I have access to right now, so I can't tell you where it is in OS X 10.7 Lion, but System Preferences will tell you. Type "expose" into the search field, and look for "Exposé Shortcuts" among the possible matches.

Note that this isn't new to Lion. The reason it happens only "every so often" is because it doesn't happen only when you drag to an edge. You have to drag to the right corner. When you drag the cursor rapidly, it tends to go into a corner.

Re: Weird Desktop Behavior
ganbustein #28682 04/21/14 09:05 PM
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grelber Offline OP
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Nope, it's not a hot corner. And doesn't do it when I drag it to any corner. And the only hot corner I have is lower left for Sleep. In Lion it's located under "Mission Control".

The behavior occurs generally when I move the cursor fast to the far right, usually halfway between top and bottom (and for the sake of completeness I keep my dock along the right edge of the screen).

Re: Weird Desktop Behavior
ganbustein #28683 04/21/14 10:15 PM
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Show Desktop doesn't dim the screen, though. This sounds more like App Exposé to me. At least, if I invoke App Exposé in Mavericks via a four-finger downward swipe when the active app has no open windows [e.g. Finder], I get the symptoms grelber describes (although the Dock doesn't dim).

I'm not sure how App Exposé can be inadvertently invoked while moving the cursor, though. Perhaps grelber will illuminate us regarding input device. (Mouse? Trackpad?)



dkmarsh—member, FineTunedMac Co-op Board of Directors
Re: Weird Desktop Behavior
dkmarsh #28685 04/22/14 08:51 AM
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grelber Offline OP
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My dock doesn't dim either in the situation described.

That said, and after having looked up the Exposé app in the Missing Manual for Lion (which indicates that Mission Control is now the 'repository' for most of Exposé's functions in earlier Mac OS X versions), it would seem that I inadvertantly trigger it somehow via mouse action (which the Missing Manual doesn't elucidate). Now that I know what it is, I'm not going to worry about it any more.

Many thanks for providing enlightenment.

Comment on Exposé: For all the hype in the Missing Manual about how great the app is, I cannot imagine how I might use it for anything. The instructions are some of the most confusing I've ever come across. And now I will erase it from my mental repertoire and carry blithely on.

Re: Weird Desktop Behavior
dkmarsh #28812 04/29/14 08:13 AM
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grelber Offline OP
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Originally Posted By: dkmarsh
I'm not sure how App Exposé can be inadvertently invoked while moving the cursor, though. Perhaps grelber will illuminate us regarding input device. (Mouse? Trackpad?)

For sake of completeness, I'm just adding a response to this which I overlooked earlier: I'm using a Magic Mouse.

Re: Weird Desktop Behavior
grelber #28818 04/29/14 04:32 PM
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Magic Mouse is sensitive to unintentional movements that have meaning to the System. Remember, it is a combination mouse and trackpad, so anything can happen. Our hand and fingers become momentarily lazy or careless and wham! The entire screen changes color and flips upside-down!!

Well, not really, but I have seen experienced users, while using a Magic Mouse, do a double-take at something that just happened through no intent of their own.


On a Mac since 1984.
Currently: 24" M1 iMac, M2 Pro Mac mini with 27" BenQ monitor, M2 Macbook Air, MacOS 14.x; iPhones, iPods (yes, still) and iPads.
Re: Weird Desktop Behavior
grelber #45161 06/14/17 11:53 PM
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grelber Offline OP
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I know that I brought this issue up long ago, but there never was a satisfactory explanation of same.

Every so often when moving the cursor to the Dock, the screen loses all content except for the Desktop photo and the Dock. Clicking once returns everything to the status quo ante. I cannot replicate it at will; it just happens from time to time.

Once again: Any ideas?

OS X Lion 10.7.5


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